The most important film on the first day of the festival was one of the four great new German cinemas, Wim Wendsen's film "Paris, Texas". Xu Wangqiu, Polanski, and Chabrol attended the premiere of the film and watched the film carefully. Xu Wangqiu and Chabrol came for the movie, and Polanski because of Natasha Kinski, who is the heroine of the film.

Xu Wangqiu feels that the structure of "Paris, Texas" is a little unbalanced, in the first half of the film, the plot entanglement seems to be between brothers and father and son, but in the second half of the film, it shows the entanglement between the male and female protagonists. However, the atmosphere of the movie is excellent, and there is an air of loneliness from the beginning to the end. Probably it was this intense sense of loneliness that touched the judges and led them to award the Palme d'Or to this film in their last life.

Coming out of the cinema, Xu Wangqiu asked Polanski what he thought. Polanski unceremoniously stated that boring films. Xu Wangqiu knew that Polanski had always hated the New Wave, hated pretentious and obscure movies, but he didn't expect it to be so direct, and he couldn't help but think, it's your little lover starring anyway, this is too direct.

The next night, Polanski's "Bitter Moon" premiered in the Lumière Hall, and Xu Wangqiu and Chabrol attended the premiere of the film. After entering the cinema, he saw that there were many female audiences at the scene, and he couldn't help but think to himself, when the movie started, I don't know how many people would be scared away.

Sure enough, as he expected, the movie didn't run long before some viewers chose to leave. "Bitter Moon" not only has a large number of nude scenes, but also the description of love is very extreme, even to the level of perversion. One woman who left the show, who was dizzy and fell down because she was disgusted by the movie, angrily stated: "This movie is too erotic, too distorted. When I saw this film, I couldn't imagine what the audience would get out of it, I only saw the ugly face and deformed psychology of a perverted director. ”

After the film screening, the evaluation of the film by the audience and critics was very polarized. Some people have commented on "Bitter Moon" with words such as "sick" and "perverted", and some have even called it a shame for the festival, and declared that they will publicly call on readers to boycott the film. Another part of the audience knows that this is a great film, Polanski restores the real love and desire, the film touches the heart and leads the audience to reflect on themselves.

After the press conference, Polanski approached Xu Wangqiu and Chabrol at the bar and asked them how they felt. Chabrol said: "It was a good shot, I loved it. Xu Wangqiu's evaluation was: "The movie is very good, but it's too sadistic, I can't make such a movie anyway." Polanski was very proud and said with a smile: "My film has been screened, it's time to watch your film next, we are looking forward to your film." ”

Xu Wangqiu's "Cold" will run two days later, and Chabrol's film will be three days later, and there will be a wait. So, they made an appointment to see Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America" the next afternoon.

"Once Upon a Time in America" is the film in the screening unit, and it is also one of the most watched films at this year's film festival. Director Sergio Leone shocked the world in the '60s with the macaroni westerns of The Golden Three, Red Dead Redemption and The Twilight Twins. Once Upon a Time in America is his successor to Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in the Revolution, and the last in the American Trilogy.

In 1971, Paramount Pictures asked Leone to direct the film "The Godfather", but Leone was focusing on the script revision of "Once Upon a Time in America" and politely declined the invitation. But when everything was done with Leone, and even Robert De Niro was contacted to play the lead role, "The Godfather" had been released, so the producers lost confidence in the success of "Once Upon a Time in America", which was very similar to "The Godfather", and the investment plan was put on hold.

In the 11 years since, Leone has been looking for investment with the script every year during the Cannes Film Festival, but the cost is too high, and no investor has been found. It wasn't until producer Elon Bell listened to Leone's description of the script and decided to invest in filming that Once Upon a Time in America was finally made into a movie.

This is a work that embodies 11 years of Leone's hard work, and it is naturally wildly sought after by the media and audiences in Cannes.

"Once Upon a Time in America" tells the story of a near twilight noodle who returns home, only to find that it was Max who killed several of his friends. He used noodles and the police to get rid of his partners, and he himself broke out of his shell, swallowed up the gang's huge money, and after his transformation, he entered the political circles, became a celebrity in the upper class, and took Noodles's beloved girl for himself. Unable to escape from multiple accusations, Max begs Noodle to kill him, fantasizing about atonement for his sins, but Noodle refuses, firmly believing that his friend Max died many years ago. Max, who couldn't get Noodle's forgiveness, committed suicide and died like garbage in the garbage truck.

Once Upon a Time in America and the Godfather trilogy are very similar, both are masterpieces that reflect the times from a small perspective, but from a different perspective. Once Upon a Time in America is about friendship and love, while The Godfather is about family and affection. In terms of technique, The Godfather is undoubtedly a little better, reaching a level of perfection in every way. Xu Wangqiu also likes "The Godfather" more, but there are many people he knows who prefer "Once Upon a Time in America", and they think the brotherhood in "Once Upon a Time in America" is more moving.

After the 229-minute movie ended, the subtitles were still rolling, but all the audience in the entire movie palace stood upright, everyone stood upright, clapped their hands vigorously, and expressed their respect to the creator with applause.

When Leone brought "Once Upon a Time in America" to Cannes, he was a little apprehensive, for fear that the film would encounter Waterloo at the first stop. At this time, hearing the applause and screams of the scene, he was finally relieved, and a bright smile appeared on his face. He and the film's leading actors took to the stage to express their gratitude to the audience.

Listening to the overwhelming applause at the scene, looking at Leone on the stage with a bright smile and immersed in joy, Xu Wangqiu sighed slightly. He knew that nearly four hours was still too long for the studio, and the acclaim of "Once Upon a Time in America" at Cannes did not change the fate of the film, and the film company would still edit the film and cut the length to 139 minutes.

Almost all of the flashback passages in the film are castrated, and Leone's well-intentioned Proustian structure is cut into a one-line direct narrative where "America" is still there, and "the past" is hard to find. In the end, the whole film was unknown, and the 40 million film brought only $5.3 million in returns, failed miserably at the box office, and was also rated as one of the ten worst films of the year.

The blow left Leon so exhausted that he never made a film again, and died of depression five years later.

In fact, in the history of film, there are many films like "Once Upon a Time in America", which were criticized at the beginning and gradually buried, and were not returned until many years later, such as the film "I Am Cuba" jointly produced by the Soviet Union and Cuba.

In 1962, Soviet director Karatozov, who won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for "The Wild Goose Flies South", was commissioned by the Soviet government to make a film about the Cuban revolution. As a representative of poetry and cinema, Karatozov completed the defense of the revolution through the breathtakingly beautiful lens language in the film, showing the dignity and soul of the oppressed.

It's just that after the release of "I Am Cuba" in 1964, the reaction of both the USSR and Cuba was very lukewarm. Cubans saw the Cuba in the film as a detached stereotype, and back in the Soviet Union, the film was seen as naïve. Due to the Cold War, the film was not released in Europe and the United States, and has never been mentioned since.

It wasn't until after the collapse of the Soviet Union that "I Am Cuba" was screened for the first time at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States and the following year at the San Francisco Film Festival, where the small independent company Milestone Pictures quickly bought the distribution rights and attracted Martin Scorsese to a preview screening in 1994. Scorsese was shocked after watching it, and he said that if the film had not been banned at that time and had the opportunity to be seen by audiences all over the world, the world cinema would have looked a different way today.

With the assistance of Scorsese, "I Am Cuba" was officially released in New York in March 1995. Scorsese not only stood off the platform for the film himself, but also brought Coppola to cheer for the film. Under their promotion, the value of "I Am Cuba" has finally been rediscovered, and it has become a masterpiece worshiped by the European and American art film circles.

There is a similar film in China, Fei Mu's "Spring in a Small Town". In 1948, when the whole country was now poor and weak in the quagmire of war, Fei Mu, who had been obsessed with films such as "Wolf Mountain Bloodshed and Confucius" that responded to reality, launched a movie "Spring in a Small Town" about extramarital affairs. Despite the fact that the protagonist in the film is affectionate and polite, under the circumstances of the time, the story still attracted a lot of criticism, and the criticism was mostly influenced by social and political perspectives, and "Spring in a Small Town" has since disappeared.

In the early 80s, under the promotion of institutions and individuals such as the Heung Kong Film Critics Association and the well-known cultural scholar Huang Ailing, "Spring in a Small Town" was rediscovered. Subsequently, the film's decadent picture, gray tone, depressed emotions and avant-garde language moved the Chinese film circles across the Taiwan Strait and the three regions, and also shook the world film industry, and "Spring in a Small Town" received due recognition.

In 1997, the famous film critic Dai Jinhua hosted the Chinese Film Night in France. When "Spring in a Small Town" was screened, the proud French did not believe that such a film could be made in China in 1948. French reporters flocked to Dai Jinhua and asked, "Are you making a mistake about the production year?"

Dai Jinhua said proudly: "That's right, at this time, all the new wave film languages that you are proud of have appeared in China. So the skeptical French journalists shut their mouths.

Once Upon a Time in America, I Am Cuba, and Spring in a Small Town were unfortunate that they didn't get the recognition they deserved and the directors didn't wait for the day when their most outstanding work was recognized by the world, but they were fortunate that history eventually gave them their rightful place.

They are all great losers in the history of cinema, and they are all heartbreakers in the world of cinema!

Xu Wangqiu looked at Leone, who was immersed in happiness, and then at the fans who were caught in the carnival, thinking that at least at this moment, they are all happy, giving more film opportunities and discovering excellent films from all over the world, this is probably the biggest meaning of the film festival!

After coming out of the Movie Palace, Xu Wangqiu came to wait for Leone outside the press conference hall. After waiting for almost an hour, Leone and the lead actor of the movie came out of it. He stepped forward and said to Leone, "Mr. Leone, Once Upon a Time in America is a masterpiece, a great work. No matter what happens, that won't change. Hope to see your new movie. ”

After speaking, Xu Wangqiu left Leone with a confused face. He knew that he could not change the fate of "Once Upon a Time in America" that was cut, nor could he change the fate of Leone's future, but there were some things that made him feel uncomfortable if he didn't say them.